Albert Levy

Background Levy was born in Hamilton, Canada to a Jewish family. His family moved to Buffalo, New York when he was three months old, later moving to Cleveland, Ohio when he was seven years old. His parents were Samuel Levy, a tailor and "horse doctor," and Sarah Pollock. Bert Levy had nine siblings. To counter his frail constitution, Levy became a Boy Scout and a boxer. He grew up on the streets, stating that his "real education was in the school of hard knocks". In the spring of 1918, Levy enlisted in the 39th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers (part of the Jewish Legion).

In 1927, Levy was arrested with four other men and a woman for a series of robberies. During a search, police discovered a cache of guns. He was convicted of the January 1927 armed robbery of a Philadelphia A&P food market. Despite this being Levy's first criminal conviction, the judge, Harry McDevitt, imposed a sentence of 2550 years.

Military career

Field service Levy served in five wars and insurrections between 1911 and 1945. The truth of Levy's exploits during his service remains uncertain, as he tended to embellish his biography.efn-ua|Like some other soldiers of fortune (e.g., William E. Fairbairn), "Levy was fond of making up stories to enhance his prowess as an adventurer". He spent six months in a Francoist prison, being released after the Canadian government exchanged him for two Italian officers something he characterized as "a fair deal." Despite all that, his friends would have to prevent him from re-enlisting and returning to the fray. Upon his release, he went back to Canada, claiming that he recruited 1,200 volunteers for the Republican cause. Despite becoming famous due to its appearance in newsreels and newspaper articles around the world (particularly in the US), the socialism espoused by the school's instructors was met with disapproval by the War Office (WO) and Winston Churchill, resulting in the WO taking it over in September 1940. Closed in 1941, its staff and courses were reallocated to other newly opened WO-approved Home Guard schools.

While lecturing there, Wintringham helped Levy write his book Guerrilla Warfare, described by some as a "war pamphlet" as a practical manual of guerrilla strategy and tactics.

Time also enthusiastically noted his unconventional approach: Sinister Shadow. . . . The Methods of ambush are important. A wire cable strung across a road at an angle will slide a motorcycle off into the ditch, where the cyclist can be slugged and searched . . . Destruction is one aim. A guerrilla learns how to derail and wreck trains, blow up tanks, destroy planes on the ground, and dynamite bridges. In taking sentries, advises Mr. Levy, the back is the best approach. If that is impossible, the guerrilla covers the sentry with his revolver, steps on his foot, unbuttons his tunic, and jerks it down over his arms to lock them. "You may slap his ears with the revolver barrel to intimidate him. . . . You should also drop his trousers to lock his feet." . . . Invisible weapons might include: a . . . lady's hatpin, or a wrist knife strapped to the wrist with the hilt downwards; a knife hung around the neck; a small revolver held up the sleeve by rubber bands; a stiletto with a nine-inch blade. . . . a hammer, cheese-cutters (wires with wooden handles, handy for garroting); a handkerchief with a fistful of sand in it. Besides blankets, extra socks, binoculars, rifles, burnt cork to blacken the face, etc., an important part of the equipment is 25 to 30 yards of fishline. . . . [and] booby traps. The idea that a civilian population could rise up and defeat an occupying enemy through guerrilla tactics was unconventional at the time, as guerrilla warfare was seen in a negative light. While still teaching the methods he had at Osterley Park, he began to advocate the scorched earth policies used in the Soviet Union against the Nazi invasion, developing an opportunistic conception of homeland defense. The Soviets had demonstrated that partisans could attack enemy logistics and lines of communication, thereby disrupting mechanized warfare. He taught the Pacific Coast Militia Rangers in Canada, as he felt that they needed more than home grown expertise.

He was a trainer of forces at Nanaimo, Vancouver Island that were going to invade the Aleutian Islands in Operation Cottage.

Subsequently, he returned to lecture in America as an advance party when Wintringham was invited to start an Osterley style school in San Bernardino. The school was abandoned when the two local Home Guard commanders shot each other during an argument. Levy gave a successful US lecture tour and had his face pictured on the cover of Life Magazine, proclaiming him as an Ace Guerrilla and having a multipage story titled How to be a Guerrilla. Later, he returned to the UK to form part of Wintringham's occasional 'flying squads' mobile training units which toured provincial Home Guard units in temporary, often unofficial, training camps.

After appearing at Harvard University, where he was billed as an "Instructor in 'cad warfare' for the British Commandos, Levy spoke on his work to a mixed gathering of the Naval Supply Corps, Harvard ROTC, and students on Monday in the Stadium." He particularly emphasized the need for individual civilian warfare. He lectured on the Home Guard and the tactics of insurgency. The Harvard Crimson noted: ""Yank" expects to leave this country within a few days to return to Britain, where Goebbels has promised that he will be among the first to be shot when the Germans capture England."

The United States Infantry Journal called him the greatest instructor on defensive fighting. His life story was illustrated in a comic book entitled Jewish War Heroes, published by the Canadian Jewish Congress in January 1944.

His approach to asymmetrical warfare was seen by some as an unfortunate portent of post-World War II conflicts.

Postwar career and legacy In 1946, Levy sought to go to Palestine, filing a passport request with the U.S. federal government. His request was denied ostensibly because of potential diplomatic problems associated with his championing guerrilla warfare and "dirty tricks" that he taught to the Home Guard.

On April 15, 1954, he was pardoned by John S. Fine, the Governor of Pennsylvania, for his 1927 conviction for armed robbery. He had served six years of a 2550 year sentence, before being deported to Canada, only later learning that he was an American citizen by birth, making the deportation illegal. His lawyer invoked Levy's chronic arthritis and penury, his law-abiding conduct with his wife and daughter in Los Angeles, and his list of good works in contributing to the war effort. The state parole board approved the petition for executive clemency, and then the governor. He was represented by Hanley Rubensohn, a Philadelphia attorney, who said that Levy wanted to wipe out the only blot on his record, so that he could live in peace. At the time of his pardon, Levy was in hospital. Medical expenses had consumed his earnings from lectures and book sales. His attorney for the pardon proceeding believed that Levy had been punished enough.

Levy suffered a heart attack in 1965 which led to his death and the derailment of a planned biography based on his memorabilia and correspondence, with writer Don Dwiggins; as of 2014, this source material survives in Los Angeles. In 2006, it was announced that an American writer, Todd Winer, was conducting research for a biography promising "fascinating reading, with Levy as a latter day Stephen Crane or Jack London." Levy was also covered in Liberty Magazine, November 21, 1942; American Rifleman, May 1942; Coronet, October 1942; and The Christian Science Monitor, June 17, 1942. The New York Times also carried an obituary on September 5, 1965. In 1965, researcher and author, Robert Emmett Johnson, corresponded with Levy about the latter's involvement in Nicaragua.

Published works Guerrilla Warfare 1942 | Penguin Special 102. Introduction by Tom Wintringham. Harmondsworth: Penguin. . 1942 | Full text. Melbourne: Lothian Publishing. 1964 | Boulder: Panther Publications. . 1964 | Full text. Introduction by Franklin Mark Osanka and "Editor's Notes" by Robert K. Brown. Boulder: Paladin Press. . 1968 | Arabic edition translated by Sami Kaaki. Beirut: House of Science for Millions / Dar Al-Adab. 2008 | "An Infantry Journal Penguin Special." London: Penguin. .